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At the
Global Forum on Environment and Development for Survival,
held in Moscow in January 1990, Onandaga Clan Mother Audrey
Shenandoah delivered a keynote address--excerpted
here--between address by Soviet President Gorbachev and
United Nations Secretary General Perez de Cuellar.
From the book Wisdomkeepers, by Steve Wall and Harvey
Arden
I would first give thanks for another day of life here
on this Earth. It is another day extended that we may
enjoy the compassionate goodness of our Creator. Among
my people we could not come together in this way-- a
conference-- without first offering words of acknowledgment,
respect, and thanksgiving for our fellow human beings.
Now our words we direct to our Mother Earth, who supports
all life. We look to the shortest grasses, close to
the bosom of our Mother Earth, as we put our minds together
as one mind. We include all the plant life, the
woodlands, all the waters of Earth, the fishes, the animal
life, the bird life, and the Four Winds.
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As one mind
our acknowledgment, respect and thanksgiving move upward to
the Sky World: The Grandmother Moon, who has a direct
relationship to the females of the species of all living
things; the sun and the stars; and our Spiritual Beings of
the Sky World. They still carry on the original
Instructions in this great Cycle of Life.
With one mind we address our acknowledgment, respect, and
gratefulness to all the sacred Cycle of Life. We, as
humans, must remember to be humble and acknowledge the gifts
we use so freely in our daily lives.
I convey to you best good greetings from my people, the
Haudenosaunee. They made for me a "bundle"
of greetings before I departed my homeland, as is always
done for one traveling on a mission to another land.
They said, "To the chiefs, the leadership of many
lands, the chiefs of the Haudenosaunee send you warm
greetings and great respect. May you have peace of
mind. To all spiritual leaders and persons of office
these same warm greetings from your counterparts among the
Haudenosaunee. May there be peace when we meet.
To the women in this assemblage--the Mothers of Nations-- a
warm greeting of acknowledgment and respect, for yours is a
very special and sacred mission on this Earth. And to
the children of many lands gathered here we extend good
greetings from the children of our homeland."
Thus I extend the "bundle" of greetings and
recognition and respect to all assembled here. This is
the custom and tradition of my people. These greetings
affirm the linkage of we humans to one another and our
relationship to the environment and the Universe.
We have much to learn from the incredible knowledge of our
ancestors which was gained long before reading and writing
came about. From time immemorial every bit of their
intelligence and senses were used. Humans knew and
felt relationship to all that lived and moved. Somehow
that relationship must be regained. We are face with
critical times. Changes need to be made beginning now,
for our life-support system is being severely abused and
mismanaged.
Many people of peace have been persecuted through the
centuries. I believe that the time of persecution has
passed. The energies of the people are now being
directed in search of ways to save Mother Earth.
The founder of Haudenosaunee government, whom we call the
Peacemaker, intended that there be social justice in the
world. No man was to be more privileged than any other
man. All were to be accorded respect. A healthy
human mind respects the gifts of life--all nature gives
life.
There is no word for "nature" in my
language. Nature, in English, seems to refer to that
which is separate from human beings. It is a
distinction we don't recognize. The closest words to
the idea of "nature" translate to refer to things
which support life.
It is foolish arrogance for humans to think themselves
superior to all the life-support system. How can one
be superior to that upon which one depends for life?
Humans have invented marvelous technologies. The
result has been that parts of the world live in unnecessary
and debilitating surplus while people in other parts of the
world are dying for lack of food, water, and shelter.
Priorities need to be directed so that people who have
plenty need not feel shame while others hunger and
die. There should be no homeless or hungry people
anywhere in the world. Those in power need to address
this deplorable situation. We are all fellow travelers
on this Earth. . . .
We live in an era when far too much money is expended on the
military. Even as we enter a time of increasing
potential for peace among the major powers, military
expenditures remain grotesquely high. The purpose of
these high military budgets must be the anticipation of
violence. As a mother I demand that our sons not be
raised to die in war. War is irrational, its causes
suspect. If we are to live on this planet we must
eliminate warfare, which is harmful to all living things.
I would urge the whole concept of nature be rethought.
Nature, the land, must not mean money; it must designate
life. Nature is the storehouse of potential life of
future generations and is sacred. Human societies
already possess the technologies necessary to provide food,
clothing, and shelter for everyone. The organization
of distribution of wealth needs to be repaired, for that
imbalance destroys both contemporary and future human life
and nature. Western society needs to prioritize
life-supporting systems and to question its commitment to
materialism. Spirituality should be our foundation. .
. .
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Another
of the natural laws is that all life is equal.
That's our philosophy. You have to respect life--all
life, not just your own. The key word is
"respect." Unless you respect the Earth,
you destroy it. Unless you respect all life as much
as your own life, you become a destroyer, a
murderer. Humans sometimes think they've been
elevated to be the controller, the ruler. But
they're not. They're only part of the whole.
The human's job is not to exploit, but to oversee, to be a
steward. Humans have responsibility, not power.
Oren Lyons, Onondaga |
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